President Donald Trump addressed the U.S. press on March 30th and told them to expect the COVID-19 restrictions to continue until the end of April in 2020. (fn# 1https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/04/.
He reported that when the Pandemic ends, there could be between 100,000 and 200, 000 dead Americans in the country. President Trump claimed his actions that his office has installed have prevented up to 2 million deaths. (fn#2https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/03/us/coronavirus-updates 05/03/20)
The number of deaths horrified the media and others to think that Italy, with 10,779 and Spain at 6,803, meant that the U.S. with only 2,485 would surpass them shortly.
The number, however, is part of a larger story of missed messages and a slowed start to control the impact on the U.S. by developing a plan months before China’s first patient became ill with the COVID-19 virus.
COVID-19 IN THE BEGINNING.
Wuhan is the capital city of Hubei province in the People’s Republic of China. It is the largest city in Hubei and the most populated city, with 11,081,000 people. (fn#3 https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/01/my-trip-to-wuhan-city-and-hubei-province-a-city-of-millions-hidden-from-the-world-until-today/.
In December of 2019, Dr. Shi Zhengli was told to high prioritize an examination of Patients at Wuhan Hospital who reportedly exhibited symptoms of a SARS-like virus.
Dr. Shi was the chief Virologist, researcher, and an author at the Wuhan Institute, a part of the Chinese Academy of Science. She received her master’s degree from the Wuhan Institute of Virology and a Ph.D. from Montpellier, University. (fn#4)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Zhengli.
In January, based on blood studies from several patients at the Wuhan hospital and tracking the history, she was able to trace the location of the vector of the infection, a “Bat borne “virus located from an animal slaughtered at a “wet market”. (fn#5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civet
THE WORLD OF “WET MARKETS. “
The “wet markets” term is related to the wet floors consistently found throughout the market due to flushing blood, and animal remains. Wet markets can be found throughout China, the far east, India, and Mexico.
The markets serve as a means to allow for infections passage to humans as a part of the “Zoonosis” chain. The Zoonosis means the transfer of a disease from animals to humans and spreading Bacteria, Viruses, and Parasites. (ex. Ebola, influenza, swine flu. )(fn#6https://www.who.int/topics/zoonoses/en/)
Dr.Shi had previously found Zooinotic Conditions that lead to a disease like SAD or swine acute diarrhea syndrome was a result of the animal to animal disease transportation.
(horseshoe bat to the pig caused the SAD virus.)
Dr. Shi Zhengli’s research in 2018 found the relationship between pigs and bats but did not find a transmission to humans. The human and pig have some similarities, but none that would allow for a Zoonotic coronavirus in humans. But this provided a means to use the bat’s genomic sequence, which contains 98% of similarities to Coronavirus. Dr.Shi was able to use this finding to determine if humans could be affected.
The deaths begin in Wuhan.
On January 10th, 2020, China reported it’s the first death from the COVID-19 virus, and the data found by Dr.Shi provided a roadmap to the Wuhan seafood and wholesale market. (fn# 7https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huanan_Seafood_Wholesale_Market) The staff in the Wuhan hospital did not receive the notification of the COVID-19 disease and safety measures that the team needed to take.
In January 2019, Dr.Shi was able to isolate the Coronavirus type and based it on several patients that had blood samples taken from them. The disease vector the Civet animal ( mostly nocturnal mammal native to tropical Asia and Africa, especially the tropical forests. )(fn#8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civet), which was harvested at the Wuhan wet market.
The Civet is eaten in China as a delicacy, but Dr.Shi determined that it was not eating the Civet, but the virus from the Cave Nectar bat transferred the SARS virus to it, and it jumped to the man. (FN#9 www.ScientificAmerica.com, J. Qiu,04/27/20)
Wuhan Hospital, as a hospital in January, became a nosocomial and a source of hospital-acquired infection (HAI). The COVID-19 virus first appeared in December of 2019 when a 33-year-old Dr. named Dr.Li Wenliang, an Ophthalmologist discovered a patient had a SARS virus infection. (fn#10)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Wenliang
Dr.Li began to contact his medical school classmates and others doctors at Wuhan hospital of a SARS infection associated with the Wuhan market. Dr Li had not received any notification by the Chinese government about a current virus. The supervisory staff at the hospital accused him of spreading false reports online, and he was later investigated by the Wuhan Public Security Bureau. Dr. Li was threatened and forced to sign a document of admonition. (Fn#11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Wenliang)
Dr. Li was allowed to return to work in the hospital. January 8th, Dr. Li became sick from the COVID-19 virus, but his experience while being interrogated by the police was published on the internet. The patient that he treated before becoming ill worked at the Wuhan market.
On January 12th, Li was admitted to intensive care at Wuhan Central Hospital. On February 1st, he was placed in the hospital ICU. Still, Dr. Li continued to communicate with his fellow Doctors about his illness until he was rushed to the emergency room where he died but his cause of death was not announced as a result of the COVID-19. (fn#12 https://www.theguardian.com; L.Kuo;03/11/20)
The death of Dr. Li resulted in a public outcry by the medical and scientific community. The members of the Chinese government labeled the doctor as a “rumormonger” who spread false lab reports that caused a panic.
The Chinese supreme people’s court declared that he and the other doctors had not broken any laws.
The Chinese anti-corruption agency determined after Dr. Li’s death that two officers that interrogated him in Wuhan needed to be disciplined.
The government’s official report found nothing improper was done by President Xi Jinping by ordering a investigation. (fn#13 www.theguardian.com; V.Yu 02/07/20)
The central government in Hubei imposed strict control of all sharing of information between doctors at Wuhan Central hospital.
The local officials in Wuhan were purged from office, including the city mayor. All of the Wuhan health officials were removed from office for dereliction of duty.
On January 22nd, the Hubei region of China was “locked down by the government. The people were unable to leave their homes. The healthcare workers were forced to work shifts and were only able to go if adequately relieved. The lockdown resulted in the infection of multiple healthcare workers and the death of three doctors at Wuhan hospital. (fn#14 www.theguardian.com; V.Yu 02/07/20).
Wuhan hospital flawed support.
The patients that were admitted to the Wuhan hospital with Corvid-19, in the beginning, were placed in the wrong hospital wards and not isolated from other patients. The staff was not adequately protected from the virus. Those that had the infection spread the virus throughout the hospital by mixing with patients and staff and others.
This caused the infection by COVID-19 to accelerate in the hospital. The Chinese government officially reported that COVID-19 had caused death on January 11th of 2020 and that this infection was not SARS but had a different genomic configuration based on the breed of bat being the cave nectar breed vs. the horseshoe bat. (fn#15 ScientificAmerica.com, J. Qiu,04/27/20)
Unlike SARS, the COVID-19 spreads from person to person without symptoms and can thrive longer without any known season limitation. The SARS virus Dr.Shi found was generally harmless to humans, but the Cronavirus are specific to the bat-borne types and are capable of causing lung infections, and there are no know vaccines.
The COVID-19, unlike SARS, was accurate at attacking those with underlining diseases and targeting older patients. 80% of the deaths in China affected those older than 60, and 75% had an underlying illness. (fn#16 www.theguardian.com; Y. Yu 02/07/20)
The Timeline of the COVID-19
After December 31st, 2019, China informed the WHO about an unusual Pneumonia in Wuhan China, which was not a known virus, but they were sure that it was not SARS.
By January 13th, 2020, the WHO found a similar case in Thailand from a woman who had traveled to Wuhan. The U.S. announced that some of its significant airports would start screening all travelers from Wuhan.
The U.S., along with other western nations, began screening travelers connected to Wuhan, but the problem was compounded with the Chinese New Year. (January 25th) .
The Chinese government was slow to reveal information to the WHO or the U.S. except it could be transmitted by “human to human” contact, but there was no information related to Dr.Shi’s findings.
The Australian, Thailand and Pacific nations all began screening travelers from the Hubei Province and developed their own testing based on the results from the WHO.
The Chinese government understood that during SARS in 2003, 84 percent of the deaths occurred in the Guangdong province of China, a region that is home to the “horseshoe Bat” who was the primary vector in the disease. (fn#17 www.nature.com;D. Cyranoski,12/01/20)
Dr. Shi and the Virologist at the Wuhan Institute developed a bank of Bat species viruses from different Bat Species, which is now the world’s largest.
The lab successfully developed a SARS-like virus pool that was contained in a BSL4 level lab with the highest precautions and was tightly controlled. Virus borne diseases like Ebola, MERS, SARS, and Anthrax were provided by the lab. (fn#18 www.axios.com/;B.A.Ebrahimian,02/22/20)
The U.S. Embassy visited the lab in January of 2019 and determined that the Bat studies at Wuhan’s research were a threat due to the shortage in staff and the relationship to Coronavirus disease. The Galveston National lab at Galveston, TX. was contacted about the danger. HHS Secretary head Alex Azar declared the virus was a threat and fast-moving in a changing situation.
Azar claimed a diagnostic test existed, and a faster test was in process and Dr. Fauci of NIH proclaimed a vaccine could be created for trials in months.
In the U.S. government public healthcare system, it was accepted that a Bat related SARS infection was a strong possibility with the ability to transfer from a Zoonotic vector to another animal then to humans.
In 2015 there were other scientists from other countries who questioned the risks from Dr.Shi’s lab team, and in 2014 the U.S. imposed a moratorium on the funding of the research. (fn#19)www.axios.com/;B.A.Ebrahimian,02/22/20 In January of 2019, the U.S. CDC released the first batch of test kits, which was sent to 26 Public Health labs but was rejected for flaws of “false Positives” and were never used on patients.
This issue forced the U.S. CDC to be unable to provide the needed tests in the U.S. and made the CDC turn to private labs to produce a proven lab test. The FDA in February advised the CDC to stop paying for a test kit for the COVID-19, and a private company was contracted to create the kits. On February 14th, CDC announced that surveillance would begin in 5 cites. CDC instructed the labs that this test would be for COVID-19 and no longer SARS-like Coronavirus. They established narrow guidelines for a person who would have traveled to China.
The CDC testing version differed from the World Health model by looking for Coronavirus that was carried by Bats.
Thailand, Japan, and Germany all began to take action on the virus at the same time as the U.S. But the significant difference was in the development of a basic test they implemented a plan for mitigation, isolation, and tracking cases.
The U.S. created narrow parameters of who could be tested and compounded the problem with access to testing. Many potential patients in the U.S. who fit the profile but did not have the symptoms were denied a test.
THE COVID-19 ABILITY TO CHANGE
The COVID-19 can mutate and adapt to the system of one person differently than another. Those with underlining diseases like Hypertension can become profoundly ill while a healthy person is asymptomatic. Animal borne viruses maintain a low-level transmission before fully emerging.
The COVID-19 works by using the spike proteins to enter the cell and fuses to the lung cells (receptors); this allows the ACE-2 receptor to take over the battery. The ACE-2 hijacks the lung cells and then replicates at a higher rate. (fn#18https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angiotensin-converting_enzyme_2).
The ability to reproduce by the COVID 19 makes a test for Antibodies and Antigens necessary. This will reveal that they had contracted the virus and generally are protected. In some cases, those who had SARS are also protected, but the WHO has questioned the length of time. The WHO have issued a statement that antibody protection may have limitations in some people.
The hope of new tests for COVID-19
Several University and independent groups have differed with the CDC leadership in managing the COVID-19. Columbia University’s Mailman School and Dr. Michael Osterholm believe that the U.S. must be lockdown until a vaccine is created even if its longer than 18 months. Dr.Osterholm’s view is that 800,000 deaths in the U.S. will occur before a vaccine is made. (fn#21 https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/21/opinions/bergen-osterholm P.Bergen,04/22/20.
THE WIRLPOOL OF POLITICAL AND SCIENTIFIC PLANS.
The U.S. is caught in a “whirlpool” of political and scientific beliefs with multiple camps fighting to discredit the other on how to manage Covid-19.
The Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Dr.Fauci and Dr.Deborah Birx, the crononvirus response lead have been the leaders of President Trump’s attempt to control the COVID-19 virus. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Coronavirus_Task_Force).
As a team, they have been forced to “walk back” comments made by the President and face criticism by the media. President Trump is facing not being reelected in 2020 due to the COVID-19 virus, the greatest depression in history, and more than 80,000 deaths of Americans.
The press conferences held by President Trump make him appear as a man without empathy, trying to sell a “quick fix” to a country that expects results, and that will not succumb to the” draconian” measures of China.
Americans are caught between a patchwork of technical models and a depressed economy with a need for a vaccine. It does not matter how long it takes to create a vaccine; a strong possibility exists for a new COVID strain to develop in the fall.
The real role of Chinese Scientist and Doctors in COVID-19.
The ability to detect the COVID-19 by Dr. Shi took a year of searching Bats in Hunan province caves. Dr. Shi and her team spent 10 years developing data on SARS and its relationship with SARS-COV-2. Dr. Shi reported that the spillover of COVID-19 did not occur from a human to a human transfer via the lab. But it did happen from the Wet Market in Wuhan as a part of an animal to human transfer. (fn#22 https://www.newyorker.com/science/elements/from-bats-to-human-lungs-the-evolution-of-a-coronavirus, C.Kormann;03/27/20.
THE WAR OF TRUTH AMERICA VS.CHINA .
It was not until Dr. Li made the infection public and the Chinese government’s suppression of his report that COVID-19 became public.
The WHO is also a partner in this misinformation, for it failed to respond to Dr. Li’s efforts to “whistleblow” on China about its suppression of Doctors that were questioning China’s actions.
The Chinese supreme people’s courts condemnation should have raised a “red flag” about China’s handling of COVID-19. The WHO did not choose to take action and demand China allows the WHO to verify the data.
The U.S. is planning on withholding funding to the WHO for being an asset to China. This political stunt by the Trump Administration only hurts the countries with limited resources and can result in the transfer of COVID-19 back to the Western world.
The Chinese government launched its own plan of disinformation by reports that the virus was a plant by the U.S.military. The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s spokesman Zhao Lijian claimed the U.S. is hiding something. (fn# 24 https://www.reuters.com/article/ 04/17/2020) The U.S. Director of National Intelligence on April 30th issued a statement that COVID-19 was not a biological created virus, and that was not a part of a launched attack from a lab in Wuhan. (https://www.dni.gov/).
The impact of the COVID-19 that began in Wuhan had its political effect in the U.S. and the Chinese people living here. On 04/09/20, more than 200 mourners met in the Central Park Meadows to mourn the death of Dr.Li Wenliang in Wuhan, China.
The mourners wore masks but not because of COVID-19 but to protect their identity from the Chinese MSS intelligence service. The MSS has agents in the U.S. but not here to spy on the country but more essential to spy on those Chinese living in the U.S.
Dr.Li was viewed as a dissenter because he was more concerned about stopping COVID-19. The actions of Dr.Li made him a hero to the people of China and throughout the World of Medicine.
In March of 2019, Dr.Shi Zhenghi had an article published by Scientific America. (fn#25 https://www.scientificamerican.com/04/27/2020, J.Qiu. ). Which documented the work done with the Bats in Hubei Province. Her work has become the center of a Pandemic virus that may change the balance of power in the world.
But the real purpose of her work was to help the world defend against viruses by zoonotic spillover. Currently, there are more than 5,000 strains of Bat borne viruses that are waiting to be discovered.
Dr.Shi Zhenghi continues to protect the world from this threat. “Quote “”Bat-borne coronaviruses will cause more outbreaks,” Shi says with a tone of brooding certainty. “We must find them before they find us. (fn# 26 https://www.scientificamerican.com/04/27/2020, J.Qiu. ).
